Month: June 2017

A long list of non-profits, apartment managers and businesses were enlisted to participate in a one-day housing fair to get Birmingham area homeless veterans into permanent housing. The inaugural Operation: Reveille was was Wednesday, Jan. 18 at the United Way of Central Alabama. (Erin Edgemon/eedgemon@al.com)

The Housing Authority of the Birmingham District needs landlords for a partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs to house homeless veterans.

It’s holding a landlord’s interest meeting on Thursday at the McCoy Building at 1301 25th Ave. N. at 3 p.m. At the event, landlords can find information about the voucher program to support veterans.

Earlier this year, HABD held an event called "Operation: Reveille," a one-day housing fair with the goal of housing 30 homeless veterans. HABD said 23 veterans were given keys to housing at this event.

Thursday’s meeting is in preparation for another Reveille event to be held July 28. The event will connect veterans with landlords, housing authorities and utilities companies for financial and legal assistance to find permanent housing, as well as access to food and other household items.

During the event, veterans who have already registered with the VA can go through a pre-screening process for an apartment, which includes a credit report. The utility companies and apartment companies tour units with the veterans.

"These forums of collective community impact continue to make the difference for our veterans and not only provide housing but other resources to ensure a supportive transition from homelessness," Paula Stokes, Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Experience Officer, said in a press release.

The goal for the inaugural event is to get 30 homeless veterans into housing, said Willie J. Fields, homeless coordinator for the VA Medical Center in Birmingham.

Most Americans do not live in the area, and never will, but for those that do, keeping up with the Birmingham, Alabama news makes sense for many potential reasons. If you are a resident of the area, then it makes a lot of sense to keep up with what is going on in the community around you. National and even international news is easy enough to keep up with, given things like cable television, country-wide newspapers, Internet websites, and even social media. Local news has often disappeared into the background as a result of this.

Two things that national news are decidedly not going to cover for Birmingham residents include sports and weather. Weather is certainly something everyone wants to keep up with, knowing when it is going to rain or shine. In some cases in winter, there’s even a remote chance of some snow happening. In the summer, folks definitely want to know the humidity level, the daily highs, and what the possibility is of pop-up storms in the afternoon or even tornadoes.

Birmingham does not have any major league professional teams in terms of sports, but there is some minor league action, as well as college and high school action that fans and athletics enthusiasts like to keep up with, especially if someone in the home goes to one of those schools.

Keeping up with Birmingham, Alabama news is possible through local TV outlets, newspapers, and Internet websites, as well as radio programs and even YouTube media productions. Many business professionals track it, even outside of the city, since it gives them the chance to take the pulse of state matters and the regional economy. Some who live elsewhere in the world like to track the local news to have conversation material with relatives who do live there.

Of the 10,500 athletes who competed in the National Senior Games in Birmingham over the last two weeks, just 200 of them hailed from the host state of Alabama.

Despite the small contingency, though, plenty of Alabama athletes took home medals from the Games.

Following are the winners of gold, silver and bronze medals from Alabama, along with details of their performances at the Senior Games.

Gold medalists

Melanie Coultas, 52, of Gurley, captured gold in the 100-yard backstroke at the Birmingham CrossPlex with a time of 1:10.

George DeWitt of Madison, won the gold medal in triathlon for the 55-59 age group. His winning time was 1 hour, 7 minutes, 37 seconds.

David Jeffery of Semmes captured gold in the 5K road race competition for men ages 75-59. His winning time was 22:19.0.

James Putman of Atalla, along with partner Ivan Skripnak of McCalla, won gold in the doubles table tennis competition in the 60-64 age group.

Melissa White, 52, of Hoover, won three swimming medals. She won gold in the women’s 50-54 199-yard butterfly with a time of 1:19.0 and captured silver in both the 100-yard backstroke (1:14.0) and 200-yard freestyle (2:26.0).

Silver medalists

Bo Carwyle, 91, of Pinson, captured the silver medal in the men’s 90-95 shot put with a distance of 6.86 meters. Carwyle aso lit the cauldron on June 2 to open the 2017 National Senior Games.

Craig Cecil of Vestavia, won the silver medal in the men’s 65-69 triathlon. His finishing time was 1 hour, 7 minutes and 24 seconds.

Bronze medalists

Joan Coombs of Birmingham, won bronze in the women’s 65-59 triathlon event. Her finishing tme was 1 hour, 24 minutes and 34 seconds.

Jim Fuqua, 64, of Fayette, won bronze in the men’s 60-64 javelin throw with a distance of 44.81 meters (147′ 0.17").

Elizabeth Howell, 81, of Verbena, won bronze in the 80-84 age division with a distance of 1.44 meters. Howell competed along with her special needs son, Marion, who participated in track and field events in the men’s 60-64 age division.

Abraham Manear, 55, of Birmingham, won bronze in the men’s 55-59 50-yard backstroke in 32 second.

Teresa Sullivan of Shelby, won the bronze medal in the women’s 20K road race 55-59 age division.

Steven Thomason, 68, of Ardmore, won bronze in the men’s 65-69 hammer throw at with a distance of 33.58 meters.

Kimberly Vandergriff of Birmingham, along with partner Beverly Supanick, won bronze in the women’s doubles racquetball competition for ages 55-59.

The National Senior Games hosted 50-and-over athletes at venues across the Magic City beginning on June 2 and running until Thursday, June 15.

RELATED:

George Freeman of Foley, Ala., is one of just eight athletes who’ve competed in every National Senior Games. The 26-time marathoner is bowling this week in Birmingham.

Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Marcell Dareus fights off a block during an NFL game against the New England Patriots on Oct. 30, 2016, in Orchard Park, N.Y.